Drawers are commonly used in daily life in kitchens, bedrooms, offices, etc. to store a wide range of articles, some of which may be harmful to children. Small children may also attempt to climb on, or even in, drawers and cabinets in an effort to hide. Drawers and cabinets may house many types of materials which may be potentially hazardous to children such as medicines, household cleaners, knives, tools, paint, etc.
To prevent young children from accessing these storage areas, numerous items have been patented and sold, most of a multi-piece assembly. Generally, some sort of a longitudinal member with a hook portion is attached to the inside surface of a drawer or door to limit the amount the drawer or door may be opened. The hook portion may engage with a stop installed on a frame portion of the cabinet as the drawer or door is withdrawn. Only a small space may then remain for an adult to insert their finger to depress the longitudinal member such that the hook may clear the stop on the frame of the enclosure.
While the disengagement of the latch is relatively easy for an adult, the latches are intended to be difficult to manipulate by a child. However, since the actuation may be easily learned by an attentive child, the latch may soon prove inadequate.
In many cases, these latches require at least two components, which need alignment during installation or adjustment after installation. These components generally include a stop portion, or catch, attached to the enclosure and a hook portion attached to the inside of the drawer. This mechanism may further require a biasing member (springs, etc.) to bias the hook member against the stop member.
Other latch designs have included complex assemblies which challenge the manual dexterity of children and which may require the broad hand span of an adult to actuate. However, children may defeat these by using two hands.
Some of the current latches may require attachment to the exterior of the enclosure and look unsightly or attract unwanted attention.
Examples of previously disclosed latches are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,139,249 to Hillman; U.S. Pat. No. 3,397,001 to Freidman; U.S. Pat. No. 3,889,992 to Shelton; U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,649 to Hinrichs; U.S. Pat. No. 4,505,526 to Leck; U.S. Pat. No. 3,850,463 to Hawkins; U.S. Pat. No. 5,626,372 to Vogt; U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,304 to Richardson, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,795,044 to Trewlulla, Jr. et al.; U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,759,782; 3,519,299 and 4,286,809 to Goodwin; U.S. Pat. No. 4,191,411 to Rodgers; U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,949 to Chrones; U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,477 to Bialobrziski, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,632,438 to McKinney; U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,184 to Boyce; U.S. Pat. No. 5,445,451 to Harmony; U.S. Pat. No. 5,647,618 to Lambreth; U.S. Pat. No. 5,769,517 to Carde; U.S. Pat. No. 6,250,730 to Roth, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,942,257 to Wong, et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,955,380 to Barr.
What is needed is a one-piece “child-proof” safety latch that is easy to install on the inside surface of a drawer, or door, and which includes more than one feature which must be actuated to release the latch. Thus, a drawer, or cabinet door, may only be partially opened and its contents kept secure from children. Upon actuation of the more than one feature by an adult, the contents may become accessible.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a one-piece latch which may preferably be molded of plastic to provide a low cost safety latch.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a childproof safety latch which may be easily installed on the interior of a drawer or door without the need for power tools or taking measurements.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a safety latch which requires at least two cooperating efforts, a deflection of a sidewall prior to the depressing of a resilient member to allow a hook portion to clear an engaging surface.